Cod - commercial cod farm

[Fishing Forum Admin]

What are your thoughts on this - info form BBC



Britons currently consume in excess of 270,000 tonnes of cod every year, but with wild stocks dwindling, the future of the UK's favourite fish is looking doubtful.

However a glimmer of hope has appeared in the form of a family business in the Shetland Isles, Johnson Sea Farms. They may have come up with a solution to keep cod firmly on the menu by starting the UK's first commercial cod farm ..... READ MORE

Myself ... Well after the problems of salmon farm fishing a big no , should be solving the problem of poor cod stocks not getting around the problem

[steve devon]

good that they are tryin

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Yes - it will take some load of the stocks
( I wonder what has happened to the salmon wild stock since farming )

So in a small way it will help but this problem

But this problem has been going on for years

[Ben]

i saw parts of the program about that until my dad wanted to watch a DVD, looked like they were nice fish in the 1st batch but i dont know how long it would stay like that

[upnorth1]

commercial fisherman have decimated stocks of fish for years, and they are the only ones to blame along with the government (but I really don't want to go on about the political side of things because it just annoys and angers me so much!!)...and ,when the fish have all but disappeared, the commercial guys start crying, and saying more should be done to protect their livelihoods, (like charge rod and line fisherman to pay fees to go fishing, to help commercial fisherman further reduce stocks of fish in the UK)...

First of all, there should be a break in trawling. When fish are spawning, trawling should be halted for a length of time. Simple as that!!

The commercial gill netter should be moved out to sea at least TEN MILES! them guys do more damage than I care to mention, and should be ashamed of themselves for the damage they do, not just to fish, but other sea animals, mammals and the like, disgraceful!

Net mesh sizes should be increased.

Sea anglers ten years ago, it was common sight to see huge piles of dead fish at weigh ins and so on, but when it came to light that commercial fishermen were dwindling stocks, we did THEM a favour, we introduce CATCH AND RELEASE, to help try to preserve what we had left, and ease pressure on fish kills, WE WERE SEEN TO BE DOING SOMETHING!...What did the commercial guys do? NOTHING! carried on catching, and started crying again because they were catching less and less!

If you are a commercial fisherman reading this, then SHAME ON YOU! YOU RUINED YOUR TRADE, NO ONE ELSE! YOU ALONE DECIMATED THE NORTH SEA COD STOCKS! .. and now, you cry for help!

advice for you, DEAL WITH IT! you're the guilty ones.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

[DownSouth]

Paul,

I have to agree with you here, but it's not just our own commercial fleets and government that are to blame, it's the trawler fleets from the Baltic states and the rest of Europe, coupled with the EU bureauracracy that have to shoulder a big part of this too.

When we were out on a boat a couple of weeks ago Gus told us of the huge factory ships that hoover, yes hoover, fish out of the sea. This one trawler had hoovered up a hold full of fish and then came across another huge shoal. This ship was so sophisticated that its compters actually knew that the fish in the hold were smaller than the shoal they were now approaching. The said ship then dumped its catch, which of course were all dead, and hoovered up the new shoal. Now in my book that is just disgraceful and the skipper and company who owned the ship should have been taken to court and fined heavily with a fishing ban for a given period of time added too.

As for gill-netters, enough said. They all need shooting in my book. If I had the equipment I would target their operation and remove the nets wherever I saw them being laid. Radical?, yes, but I feel that strongly about this issue.

Hopefully the NFSA now has the ear of the government and steps will be put in place to protect our fish stock. As someone mentioned to me not long ago, all the sea anglers in the UK do less damage to fish stock in one year than a lone trawler does in one week. Quite staggering really. A closure of the fishing grounds like our rivers I feel is an essential part of a government programme to protect the fish population.

Back to the thread topic. Cod is in danger of being wiped out as a species if we do not act soon. One way to start preserving that species is to commercially farm it. There are moral and health issues that surround this form of intensive farming, but it is a move in the right direction. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not so nieve that I don't understand Johnsons are about making a profit, but if in the long run they can help stave off the decline of what was once one of our most prolific fish, then so be it. Time will tell, but until evidence to the contrary comes along, I for one back this scheme. There are arguments against this that have validity, but if we have to wait on laws being passed through parliamentary due process, then it may just be too late to protect this particular species.

[upnorth1]

Here Here Paul,

I'm with you on this one mate.